Had an awesome trip but with a very crappy ending. Started in Launceston, trip was pretty much Lancestion>George Town>Bridport>Weldborough>St Helens>Bicheno>Freycinet>somewhere between Swansea and Orford, and then Hobart.
My trip ended when we hopped back on our bikes in Freycnit, and the roads were super slippery and I took a turn way to hard an fast and came off. Fucked up my rear mech and bent the fuck out of the derailluer hangar on my Colnago Dream. Awesome ride though, the first couple of days were shitty, hilly as fuck, super windy, heaps of logging trucks, but by the time we got up Weldborough Pass, only a 600m climb over 10km or so it was all cruisy from there. The descent down the Weldborough pass was amazing! Went for like 6 or 7 km’s, just flying down it at like 60’s an hour through amazing winding roads.
Stayed in some amazing places as well, we didn’t want to pay for camping, so we slept in a weird Rio Tinto industrial bushland, an abandoned house, an abandoned hostel, a bay with a waterhole full of wallabies, awesome beaches. Apparently after I binned it, everyone else found an abandoned school just outside Swansea, with a pipe organ and heaps of other cool shit, they stayed the night there.
Ill chuck up some photos when I get some film developed.
Glad I found this thread, thinking of doing this early next year (there’s been drunken talks so far). Thinking of staying at backpackers / hostels / cabins along the way, try and do it as minimal amount of gear as possible.
Depends on fitness & load, I had a 32" low gear and two small panniers and was reaching for lower at times, but I’ve toured with a slightly heavier load and only fractionally lower gearing over some steeper and longer climbs and it was more than adequate.